Shopify: How ShipStation Can Help Simplify And Automate Your Fulfilment by Modern Retail

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SHOPIFY: HOW SHIPSTATION CAN HELP SIMPLIFY AND AUTOMATE YOUR FULFILMENT

Publication brought to you by Modern Retail in association with SHIPSTATION

Introduction/About One of the easiest ways to launch your online ecommerce business, Shopify offers a wide range of features and a toolbox full of features to help you become a success. Fully customisable with endless apps and plugins, Shopify is the perfect platform to grow and scale your ecommerce business. Choosing a fulfilment solution like ShipStation as part of your Shopify business plan provides an additional level of customisation and support. This ebook will explore some of the reasons why ShipStation is such a good fit for Shopify customers, including how implementing ShipStation can make your Shopify business more efficient, save you money and delight your customers. For more information, visit ShipStation.

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fromthe thefront. front.At AtShipStation, ShipStation,we wemake makeititeasier easierto tomanage manageand andfulfill fulfill ititisisfrom ordersso sothat thatyou youcan canspend spendyour yourtime timeon onwhat whatmatters mattersmost mostand andmake make orders during peak season is much easier if you’ve got a proactive plan in place, and using mini peaks to plan sureyou youhave haveaasuccessful successfulpeak peakseason. season. sure ensuring when peak season comes around, you’re ready for any eventualities. Alleviating stress for it makes it much more manageable. And ShipStation can help with this!

Order Order Management Management

Inventory Management

Gain Gain complete complete control control and insight insight into into all all of of your your orders from from one one platform. platform.

View all stock levels, set inventory alerts, or allocate stock all while picking, packing, and fulfilling.

Delivery Delivery Management Management

Branding

Simplify the the fulfilment fulfilment process. Find Simplify the best best rate, rate, print print aa label, or batch the orders for for rapid rapid label label creation. orders

Create a more personalised and memorable delivery experience for your customers, at no additional cost.

Why Shopify Sellers Should Choose ShipStation Individually processing each order will

Print all your labels in batches up to 500

only work for so long before it becomes

strong and everything is automatically

overwhelming and time consuming.

communicated back to Shopify (or the

As your business grows and orders

original selling channel) with delivery

increase, getting deliveries out in a

notifications directly to the customer.

speedy and efficient manner becomes increasingly difficult. This is where

Cut hours from your day, manage

ShipStation can help.

a warehouse’s picking and packing workflow, deal efficiently with returns

ShipStation makes fulfilment even

and grow your fulfilment internationally.

simpler and more affordable for Shopify

With ShipStation you have the tools

merchants. With import automation

required to scale, letting you focus more

features, ShipStation can apply your

time on growing your operations.

preferred delivery method to orders.

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How ShipStation Communicates with Shopify Customers A key advantage of using a platform like ShipStation is eliminating repetitive manual tasks. ShipStation not only helps streamline your order fulfilment and delivery process it also communicates with your customers about the progress of their delivery. Here’s how the process works: 1. Order placed in Shopify or in a physical

2. Order is imported into ShipStation’s platform 3. Order is fulfilled via ShipStation 4. ShipStation sends delivery and tracking information back to Shopify 5. ShipStation sends customer delivery email (if this option isn’t enabled, Shopify will automatically send notification)

store using the Shopify POS

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Make Shipping Affordable

Fulfilment doesn’t have to break the bank.

Finding the cheapest way to deliver a

With ShipStation, Shopify merchants

package doesn’t necessarily mean the

can access discounted label rates, thanks

longest delivery times.

to our close relationship with carriers worldwide. Using ShipStation doesn’t limit

Based on factors like weight, distance,

your carrier choice and you’re not required

size and speed the cheapest delivery

to use our carrier solutions.

option can vary. Knowing which service to use can be more cost efficient.

ShipStation saves merchants money in many ways by saving time on fulfilment and you don’t have to worry about

Hermes

overtime or hiring additional staff. After

For packages up to 15kg you can pay

all, time is money. However, as much

between £2.70 - £9.78. Signature

as time is money, money is also money.

services are an additional charge.

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Royal Mail

DHL

For packages under 100g Second

Like DPD, DHL offers next working day

Class Standard is the cheapest at 96p.

delivery; prices begin at £7.95 and are

Whereas Special Delivery services

based on the size of the DHL box used.

for the same parcel would cost approximately £6.45.

DPD Pricing is dependent upon weight and size, but next day delivery (NDD) with DPD starts at only £2.

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You can connect to any existing carrier account for Royal Mail, UPS, Parcelforce, DHL Express and many more. For additional information on connecting to your existing carrier account, read our connect a carrier help article.

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Delivering Shopify Orders Shopify provides its merchants with a wide range of in-cart delivery options, including free delivery and its dynamic Shopify Shipping Profiles. There is no one size fits all approach to shipping and you’ll need to decide what options work best for your business.

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Free Delivery One of the hottest trends in ecommerce, consumers expect free delivery (and free returns!) to be an

with food delivery services, setting a minimum threshold for free delivery often means customers will spend more to meet the minimum instead of paying for delivery.

industry standard. This isn’t relegated to just larger online stores, but smaller merchants as well. Offering free delivery doesn’t have to erode your margins. To help facilitate your free delivery journey, check out the cheapest ways to deliver a package in the UK and build your pricing strategy to include delivery costs in product cost. Incorporating shipping into product pricing is a common practice, though it is a very thin line. Too high and you might lose customers to lower priced competitors. An additional way to protect margins whilst also offering customers free shipping is through a minimum purchase threshold. Quite common

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Delivery Insurance You may ask yourself why you’d incorporate shipping insurance into your business model. Whilst there is a cost involved with delivery insurance, the cost of lost parcels can impact profit margins far more than the initial cost – and can provide a better customer experience overall. As a small retailer, you may want to provide customers with the option of purchasing delivery insurance instead of offering it as a standard. You can set this up as a checkout option, and once selected the process can either be a manual addition when printing labels with ShipStation or it can be fully automated.

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Importing Orders and Automation Delivering Shopify orders doesn’t need

Ways to automate your

to be time consuming and ShipStation

fulfilment process:

can help you reclaim precious hours that could be spent elsewhere.

• Single item and single quantity

ShipStation can automatically apply

orders – set up product defaults for

delivery configurations when your

common orders of the same size

orders are imported into the system.

and typical carrier. These settings

This process can save a great deal

will apply to both international and

of time and avoids common errors

domestic services.

associated with manual entry.

Get started with ShipStation automation Each time you want to ship an order with ShipStation you won’t need to manually select your carrier and delivery service. Simply configure your delivery parameters to automatically apply to your orders as soon as they are imported into ShipStation.

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• Larger orders – use service mapping

• Set up automation rules – define

or have the customer choose their

the criteria you require, these are

preferred delivery options at the

implemented after product defaults,

point of checkout. If you set up

product presets and delivery presets

a shipping profile in Shopify, you

within the automation process.

can map the corresponding service within ShipStation.

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Getting parcels out the door Efficiency is key and between ShipStation’s import automation and streamlined picking and packing workflows, your business will be flying. ShipStation is much more than printing labels. It also offers cutting edge delivery management that gives you an efficient way to pick the items for your orders, verify the items are correct and pack them into boxes without fear of missed or double-shipped items. •

Packing slip – ShipStation’s scanbased workflows utilise a packing slip. These are commonly included with an outgoing parcel to show which items

•

Assigning orders to specific warehouses is a way ShipStation provides peace of mind that you’ll avoid duplicate orders being picked. It also provides clear pick lists for employees. Additionally, you can use ShipStation’s user permissions and restrictions to ensure the right employees have access to everything they need and only what they need.

Batching If you’re automating your workflow instead of processing individual orders, batching is the logical conclusion. With

are in the customer’s order.

ShipStation’s batching you can select up

Pick lists – item-centric documents

to have them all print at once. It works

which let you see which items were ordered in the current batch of orders you’re processing. •

Personalising the process

Order summary – these fall between the packing slip and pick lists. They are a pick list that is broken up

to 500 orders and click ‘generate labels’ well with features like pick lists and order summaries. Along with automation rules, ShipStation users often report this as one of their favourite features. If you’re always on the go, you don’t have to worry about being in front of

by order number

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your computer. ShipStation Connect and

What’s required to

the mobile app not only lets you print

deliver internationally?

the labels automatically, but you can print to any printer that is connected to a computer running ShipStation.

Go international International delivery can be burdensome. Whilst it’s more expensive and difficult than shipping domestically, it’s not as challenging as it may first appear.

• Ensure you’re up to date with the VAT and tax requirements of the countries you’re delivering to. • You may need to use the internationally recognised harmonisation codes that allow your packages to pass through customs easily. • Customs forms are required for deliveries. ShipStation will create these and print them out with the delivery label. If they are submitted electronically, ShipStation will also transmit them through the carrier. • Decide who will pay the taxes and duties

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Returns The order fulfilment process isn’t finished

returning products affordable if you

when you box up a shipment. You still need

can’t provide free returns.

to get it to the carrier and ensure it’s been delivered to the customer. The final step of the delivery process may be stressful, but properly dealing with delivery and returns is the ideal way to elevate your brand image with customers. The culture of returning goods purchased through ecommerce websites doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Here are a few ways you can improve customer experience through the returns process: • Offer 14/30/60-day return policies with longer periods during the holiday season • Decide on what type of returns you want to offer: o Self-service returns – a favourite

among customers who don’t want to

o Flat rate returns – the simplest

option for a paid return and no surprises for the customer. Deliveries don't have to be a challenge to overcome. ShipStation’s main priority is simplifying and streamlining the order and fulfilment process enabling you to focus on growing your business. Using an adaptive fulfilment platform will allow you to expand and transform your ecommerce to scale with your growth. Shopify ensures selling is covered, while ShipStation ensures products will get to customers in a quick and efficient way. As you incorporate more elements into your tech stack and expand beyond your current size, ShipStation and Shopify can grow with you.

wait in queues to return items. o Free vs paid for returns – customers

prefer free returns, though offering this is not always feasible for small businesses. Find ways to make

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Download the Shopify Merchant’s Shipping Guide for the UK eBook for a more in-depth look at using ShipStation in conjunction with your Shopify store.

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